Author: Peter Ingman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780994588944
Category : Coral Sea, Battle of the, 1942
Languages : en
Pages : 252
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Book Description
This volume chronicles aerial warfare in the South Pacific from December 1941 until March 1942, during which air operations by both sides became a daily occurrence. As Imperial Japanese Navy flying boats and landbased bombers penetrated over vast distances, a few under-strength squadrons of the Royal Australian Air Force put up a spirited fight. However it was the supreme power of aircraft carriers that had the biggest impact. Four Japanese fleet carriers facilitated the capture of Rabaul over a devastating four-day period in January 1942. The following month, the USS Lexington's fighter squadron VF-3 scored one of the most one-sided victories of the entire Pacific War. By March 1942 the Japanese had landed on mainland New Guinea, and the scene was set for a race to control Port Moresby. This is the full story of both sides of an air war that could have been won by either incumbent, but for timing, crucial decisions and luck. The two authors are uniquely qualified to tell this story. Raised in Port Moresby, Michael Claringbould is a globally-acknowledged expert on the New Guinea air war and Japanese aviation in particular. Peter Ingman is an acclaimed military history author specialising in the early Pacific War period.
Author: Michael Claringbould
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780994588975
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232
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Book Description
This second volume chronicles aerial warfare in the South Pacific for the two crucial months of March and April 1942 when a deadly struggle for Port Moresby played out. It can be read alone or as part of a trilogy which culminates in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942.The period begins with the stunning 10 March US Navy carrier strike against Lae and Salamaua which caused the Japanese to pause their advance until their own carriers were available. Instead they tried to grind the Allied forces at Port Moresby into submission through an unrelenting air assault by their Betty bombers and superlative Zero fighters. After a long wait, Allied land-based fighters finally arrived in the form of Royal Australian Air Force No. 75 Squadron Kittyhawks. These were backed up by a growing collection of United States Army Air Force bombers including A-24 Banshees, B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-25 Mitchells and B-26 Marauders (the latter two types making their worldwide combat debut over the skies of New Guinea). Together this motley force took the fight to the Japanese, resulting in a complex aerial campaign which saw units from both sides reach exhaustion. Never before has such a detailed chronicle of this air war been published, and for the first time the authors match Allied accounts with Japanese records. The result is both thrilling and surprising, with the resulting dispositions of the air forces of both sides setting the scene for the Battle of the Coral Sea in May.Both authors are uniquely qualified to tell this story. Raised in Port Moresby, Michael Claringbould is an acknowledged expert on the Pacific air war and Japanese aviation in particular. Peter Ingman is an acclaimed military history author specialising in the early Pacific War period.
Author: Michael John Claringbould
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780994588999
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 248
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Book Description
This third volume chronicles aerial warfare in the South Pacific during the critical months of May and June 1942. It can be read alone or as part of a trilogy that spans the first six months of the Pacific War and culminates in the Battle of the Coral Sea. In early May 1942 the Japanese launched Operation MO, a complex plan that involved the seizure of Tulagi and Port Moresby. Within the context of an ongoing regional war waged by land-based air forces, opposing fleet carriers were drawn into conflict for the first time in history. The result was the Battle of the Coral Sea, resulting in the loss of the USS Lexington and the withdrawal of the remaining American carrier. The orthodox view of Coral Sea is of an Allied victory whereby the Japanese were forced to abandon their plan to capture Port Moresby. However, the authors make a compelling argument that the Japanese capacity to mount the invasion was largely intact and it was a serious error by their rigid and hierarchical command structure to postpone the invasion at this critical time. Following the Coral Sea battle, the bloody aerial campaign continued in earnest between the land-based air forces. This resembled something of a slugfest between the opposing bases of Lae and Port Moresby - just one hour's flying time apart. The Allied offense was waged by American B-17 Flying Fortress, B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Marauder bombers shuttling up from Australia. Protecting their critical base at Port Moresby were a few hard-battling P-39 Airacobra squadrons, which suffered an astounding loss rate during this period. On the Japanese side, their formations of Betty and Nell bombers regularly pounded Moresby, and by June had begun targeting its vulnerable harbor. These were protected by the wide-ranging Zero fighters of the famed Tainan Kokutai, whose fighter pilots were amongst the best and most experienced to be found on any front during the Second World War. Never before has this campaign been chronicled in such detail, with Allied accounts matched against Japanese records and supported by the most accurate artwork ever produced of this era. Both authors are uniquely qualified to tell this story. Raised in Port Moresby, Michael Claringbould is a globally acknowledged expert on the New Guinea conflict and both Japanese and USAAF aviation of this period. Peter Ingman is an acclaimed military history author specializing in the early part of the Pacific War.
Author: Michael Claringbould
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780648926290
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 180
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Book Description
Volume Five of this series chronicles aerial warfare primarily in the New Guinea theater in the critical period between September and December 1942. It can be read alone or as a continuation of the previous four volumes which span the first nine months of the Pacific War. By early September the strategic picture in the theater had changed markedly within just six weeks. From their new Buna beachhead, the Japanese Army commenced a Papuan mountain campaign which threatened the Allied bastion of Port Moresby. Meanwhile the battle for Guadalcanal was raging, with the outcome of the wider Pacific War in the balance. Against this background a strengthened US Fifth Air Force took the fight to the IJA with direct air support. While this was being conducted by P-39s, P-40Es, A-20As and B-25s, raids by B-17s against Rabaul aided US forces in the neighboring Solomons. RAAF Beaufighters, Beauforts, Bostons, and Hudsons also contributed substantially to these efforts. At Rabaul, a wide variety of fresh IJN fighter and bomber units poured in the theater, although these became focused mainly on the Solomons. Such were the massive losses experienced, by November the IJN undertook a complete operational and administrative reorganization of its air power. Then, despite a strong reluctance to become involved, the IJA sent an advance reconnaissance detachment to Rabaul, the forerunner of major reinforcements that would arrive in December. Never before has this campaign been chronicled in such detail, with Allied and Japanese accounts matched together for a truly factual account of the conflict.
Author: David Sears
Publisher: Da Capo Press, Incorporated
ISBN: 0306819481
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408
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Book Description
Offers an account of the U.S. airmen's roles in the air battles that took place over the Pacific Ocean during World War II.
Author: Ralph F. Wetterhahn
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 147666997X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320
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Book Description
During the first 10 months of the war in the Pacific, Japan achieved air supremacy with its carrier and land-based forces. But after major setbacks at Midway and Guadalcanal, the empire's expansion stalled, in part due to flaws in aircraft design, strategy and command. This book offers a fresh analysis of the air war in the Pacific during the early phases of World War II. Details are included from two expeditions conducted by the author that reveal the location of an American pilot missing in the Philippines since 1942 and clear up a controversial account involving famed Japanese ace Saburo Sakai and U.S. Navy pilot James "Pug" Southerland.
Author: Phil Scearce
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
ISBN: 1574413163
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 408
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Book Description
The true story of the men and missions of the 11th Bombardment Group as it fought alone and unheralded in the South Central Pacific, while America had its eyes on the war in Europe.
Author: Gerald A. Meehi
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0789213338
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
The classic photo book about the battlegrounds of the Pacific Theater then and now—updated with new information about the preservation and accessibility of these historic sites. Pacific Legacy offers an unprecedented record of the relics of World War II that have survived on the islands of the Pacific: American landing craft rusting on the reefs where they were stopped by enemy fire; shell-pocked Japanese fortifications; fallen aircraft overgrown by jungle; packed-coral landing strips still as good as new. These evocative color images are paired with archival photographs that show the same tropical battlegrounds as they appeared in wartime. The text covers the entire war in the Pacific, from the attack on Pearl Harbor to Japan’s surrender in Tokyo Bay. The principal battles are recounted hour-by-hour, drawing heavily on firsthand accounts. This vivid narrative helps the reader visualize what it was really like to be at war in the Pacific, doggedly island-hopping to victory.
Author: Mark Stille
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN: 9781849086059
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Santa Cruz is the forgotten carrier battle of 1942. Despite myth, the Japanese carrier force was not destroyed at Midway but survived to still prove a threat in the Pacific theater. Nowhere was this clearer than in the battle of Santa Cruz of October 1942. The stalemate on the ground in the Guadalcanal campaign led to the major naval forces of both belligerents becoming inexorably more and more involved in the fighting, each seeking to win the major victory that would open the way for a breakthrough on land as well. The US Task Force 61 under the command of Rear Admiral Kinkaid and consisting of the carriers Hornet and Enterprise, as well the battleship South Dakota and a number of cruisers and destroyers, intercepted the Japanese fleet, which boasted four carriers - Shokaku, Zuikaku, Junyo and Zuiho - as well as four battleships and numerous other ships, on 26 October. Though US aircraft managed to damage the Japanese carriers seriously, in turn Hornet was so badly damaged that shed had to be sunk, while Enterprise was hit and needed extensive repairs. Both sides withdrew at the end of the action. The Japanese were able to gain a tactical victory at Santa Cruz and came very close to scoring a strategic victory, but they paid a very high price in aircraft and aircrew that prevented them from following up their victory. In terms of their invaluable aircrew, the battle was much more costly than even Midway and had a serious impact on the ability of the Japanese to carry out carrier warfare in a meaningful manner.
Author: Bruce Gamble
Publisher: Zenith Press
ISBN: 0760345597
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 427
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Book Description
For most of World War II, the mention of Japan's island stronghold sent shudders through thousands of Allied airmen. Some called it “Fortress Rabaul,” an apt name for the headquarters of the Imperial Japanese forces in the Southwest Pacific. Author Bruce Gamble chronicles Rabaul’s crucial role in Japanese operations in the Southwest Pacific. Millions of square feet of housing and storage facilities supported a hundred thousand soldiers and naval personnel. Simpson Harbor and the airfields were the focus of hundreds of missions by American air forces. Winner of the "Gold Medal" (Military Writers Society of America) and "Editor's Choice Award" (Stone & Stone Second World War Books), Fortress Rabaul details a critical and, until now, little understood chapter in the history of World War II.
